The Archdeacon, Doctor Froswick, and the Rural Dean, Mr. Brathay, who completed the Commission of Inquiry, were both men of middle age; the Archdeacon, fresh-coloured and fussy, a trivial, kindly person of no great account; the Rural Dean, broad-shouldered and square-faced, a silent, trustworthy man, much beloved in a small circle. A pile of books, MSS., and letters lay to the Chairman's right hand. On the blotting-pad before him was the voluminous written report of the commission which only awaited the signatures of the Commissioners, and--as to one paragraph in it--a final interview with Meynell himself, which had been fixed for noon. Business was now practically over till he arrived, and conversation had become general. "You have seen the leader in the _Oracle_ this morning?" asked the Archdeacon, nervously biting his quill. "Perfectly monstrous, I think! I shall withdraw my subscription." "With the _Oracle_," said the Professor, "it will be a mere question of success or failure. At present they are inclined to back the rebellion." "And not much wonder!" put in the Dean's hoarse voice. "The news this morning is uncommonly bad. Four more men joined the League here--a whole series of League meetings in Yorkshire!--half the important newspapers gone over or neutral--and a perfectly scandalous speech from the Bishop of Dunchester!" "I thought we should hear of Dunchester before long," said the Professor, with a sarcastic lip. "Anything that annoys his brethren has his constant support. But if the Church allows a Socinian to be put over her, she must take the consequences!" "What can the Church do?" said the Dean, shrugging his shoulders. "If we had accepted Disestablishment years ago, Dunchester would never have been a bishop. And now we may have missed our chance." "Of what?"--Canon Dornal looked up--"of Disestablishment?" The Dean nodded. "The whole force of _this_ Liberal movement," he said slowly, "will be thrown against Disestablishment. There comes the dividing line between it and the past. I say again, we have missed our chance. If the High Churchmen had known their own minds--if they had joined hands boldly with the Liberation society, and struck off the State fetters--we should at least have been left in quiet possession of what remained to us. We should not have been exposed to this treachery from within. Or, at least, we should have made short work of it." "That means, that you take for granted we should have kept our endowments and our churches?" said Canon Dornal. The Dean flushed. "We have been called a nation of shopkeepers," he said vehemently, "but nobody has ever called us a nation of thieves." The Canon was silent. Then his eye caught the bulky MS. report lying before the Dean, and he made a restless movement as though the sight of it displeased him.